Care
by Myka Myth
Summary: Stefan is having nightmares and suddenly he adopts an old thumb-sucking habit. Will Damon put a stop to it?


_**``Care``**_

**Le Prompt: **_"Ok I have had a thought pop in my head. I read an article on how old is too old for a pacifier. I personally think kids will kick the habit on their own. How about a fic where Stefan never kicked a childish habit. It could be anything from a pacifier, a bottle, a teddy bear, or a blanket. My personal favorite is thumb sucking! Has to have Damon and Stefan bonding, preferably no, or light Elena but it's your fic so I can't complain. If you write a fic like this or similar let me know either by a reply, or by a Personal Message! I love the idea, but I think my readers would kill me if I started another fic!"_

**A/N: **Right on! :) I decided to tackle this prompt because it was just so darn adorable and the world could use a little more of a brotherly and caring Damon. I really should be focusing on my other fics but, eh. My readers will get over it ;)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Vampire Diaries. Never have, never will!

* * *

"Aww, how cute."

Surprise jolted throughout Stefan's body as his muddled mind discarded the cloud of sleep in favor for the harshness of reality. He groaned, pushing his pillows aside and arching his back into a seated position. A chuckle above him brought his attention to the other presence in his room. He frowned and looked over his shoulder at his older brother Damon who stood holding two mugs of blood in each of his hands. Stefan raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was doing in his room and why he had a sinister smirk on his face. He was about to voice his questions when Damon shoved one of the hot mugs into his hand and yanked his thumb out of his mouth.

"Kind of hard to drink with that in your mouth."

Stefan blushed, not realizing that he had fallen asleep yet again with his thumb in his mouth, an old habit that had restarted after his life became a little more hectic.

"Damon, I, uh..." he ran his hand up and down his jeans in an effort to get the saliva off, biting his lip consciously, knowing his brother was staring at him, scrutinizing him. He hated himself for acting so bashful.

Damon scoffed, lifting his mug to his lips. "You, uh, what? Were sucking your thumb again? Yea, I kind of noticed." he took a long sip.

"No!" the younger vamp blurted out, turning to face Damon quickly, almost spilling his blood with the movement. "I wasn't, ok?"

"I saw you." Damon smirked. "You were."

"I wasn't! I swear..."

"Liar, I should have taken a picture, would have been great blackmail."

Stefan scowled at him; his knuckles whitening as he nearly broke the mug. "_Bastard..._"

Damon grinned at his brother's expression. He had known about Stefan's problem for quite some time now and although he teased his little brother endlessly about it, he didn't see it as anything to freak out over. It was just a phase that would come and go.

When Damon first caught a sleeping Stefan sucking his thumb for the first time in years, he had been utterly surprised to say the least but he had left it alone and brushed it off at the time, deciding that Stefan must have been dreaming of himself as an infant at the time or some other baloney. But when the habit persisted, to the point where Stefan began to do it when he was awake too when he thought Damon wasn't looking kind of set the elder vampire on an edge. Though somehow, Stefan managed to dodge ever confronting the issue with Damon.

But, even now, when he had the chance Damon decided not to comment any further on it. His gaze shifted to Stefan's foot as he cleared his throat.

"How's your ankle?"

Stefan opened his eyes and glanced at said swollen appendage, shifting it a little underneath the sheets.

"Fine." he muttered, staring despondently into the murky liquid of the blood. "What do you want?"

Damon shrugged, downing his mug pretty quickly. "What do you think, dumbass?" Stefan shrugged as well, choosing to ignore the rhetorical question.

"It isn't going to heal itself." Damon remarked gruffly, nonchalantly swishing the small pool of blood around in the mug.

Stefan sighed, thinking back to how it got in that condition in the first place. He had been out hunting, since he refused to drink anything remotely extracted from a human. During the hunt, he had been ambushed by several nomadic vampires and had gotten beaten up pretty badly. Luckily, he had escaped in time to suffer only minimal injuries. Though, the part of his body that was in the worst condition was his ankle after had tripped over a rather large root in an effort to get away. The night had been traumatizing and it immediately alarmed Damon, who had been hovering over him constantly, asking him what the hell had happened. Stefan was furious at the time, Damon's very presence only annoying him further. He had snapped at him and then stormed away to tend to his injures, alone.

Now, as he held the mug provided by said neglected brother, he felt incredibly guilty. He looked up at Damon with calculating eyes, trying to figure out how to voice what he was about to say next.

"Damon, I uh..."

"Save it." the elder vampire admonished, setting his mug on the drawer with a clunk. Stefan lifted his eyebrows in faint surprise. Damon merely shrugged.

"You're easy to read."

Stefan frowned and opened his mouth as if to retort but Damon interrupted him.

"Don't waste your breath."

Stefan scoffed. "As if I need it."

Damon shrugged again.

"Yeah, whatever." he picked up the mug and headed towards the door.

"I'll be back later." he said dismissively.

Stefan could have sworn that he saw Damon chance a final glance at his ankle as he waltzed out of his bedroom but the younger man decided not to comment on it. Stefan sighed as he fell back against his bed with his arms folded behind his head. He stared at the ceiling blankly, thinking about his life and what he could do to better it.

Step one, drop the thumb-sucking habit!

He freed his hand from under his head and observed it, turning it this way and that, trying to figure out what he found so appealing about it. He dropped it on his chest with another sigh. He already knew. It was the comfort and the distraction it brought him. Plus, it was very addicting. Not like crack or cocaine, but something attached to him. Something that was always there to pacify him when he needed it.

He often wondered what exactly triggered the habit to start again. Actually, now that he thought about it, he realized that he had never actually stopped. During his childhood, the habit was out of control, causing his family to take drastic measures to get him to stop. His father would threaten him while his mother would try to coax him nicely, and Damon would be his usual annoying self. Nothing really worked. So they had left him alone.

Though, that had been way back when he was a human, as a vampire he thought that he had left the habit behind.

Oh, how wrong he was.

He started growing suspicious of it starting again when he would find himself unconsciously biting his nails or hovering his hand near his mouth when he was either nervous, scared, bored, concentrating, etc. That was when he realized that he never really overcame it.

Squinting his eyes shut, Stefan shuffled around in his pocket for his phone, deciding to text Elena about coming over tomorrow. As he jabbed at the buttons with the familiarity of any teenager, or any vampire that was physically 17 for that matter, his thoughts drifted to Elena's beautiful face. He imagined threading his fingers through her soft, brown hair while exploring her mouth with his own, opening his eyes just for a second just to catch a glimpse of her hazel eyes shimmering with lust. He grunted at the thought and sent the text, feeling very passionate. It had been too long.

As he thought on Elena, his thoughts began to take a very dreadful turn.

One word: Katherine.

Lately, the wretched woman had been plaguing his dreams incessantly as he slept. So bad, in fact, that there were times were he chose not to sleep at all. That's when the thumb-sucking occurred the most. It was childish, and he hated it. He hated being so scared-no, so_ terrified_ of a dainty, little dream that he had to resort to a toddlers way of coping with it.

As he kept thinking of the nightmares, Stefan became vaguely aware of the fact that his thumb had yet again slipped back into his mouth. His eyes widened in shock, wondering how the heck it had got there, and pulled it out.

The young vamp draped his arm over his eyes and groaned in embarrassment.

This would have to end.

He rolled off of the bed and bounded down the stairs, limping slightly as he went. Maybe some television would get his mind off things.

* * *

_The Next Day_

"Oh look, the spaz is home early." Damon remarked from his spot on the couch as Stefan trudged in, flinging his backpack to the side of the couch and making a beeline for the kitchen.

"I'm the spaz? You're the one stating the obvious." Stefan rolled his eyes and shoved a mug of blood into the microwave, pressing the necessary buttons that would heat it up.

Damon waved the comment off, completely engrossed in his Xbox. "So, what, did Elena turn your sorry ass down?"

Stefan glared at the spiraling mug of blood as if it was Damon himself. "_No._" he ground out. "She didn't come to school today because her and Jeremy are helping Jenna get rid of a maggot infestation in their kitchen." he sighed with a 'why do I even bother?' look on his face. "She's coming by today to make up for the time we lost together..."

"Aren't you the gentlemen? Having her drive here and waste gas when you could bring her here yourself." Damon grinned to himself as he jerked his controller from side to side. "Maybe I should save you the effort."

"She insisted." Stefan defended, turning to actually glare at his brother this time. "Can we just not do this?" he growled.

"What?" Damon asked innocently as a loud explosion sounded from the television, signaling that Damon had just blown something up.

"This thing were you talk to me after I come home from school and pretend to care." he turned back to the microwave as it beeped and glowed warmly.

Damon smirked, setting his controller down slowly on his lap. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Stefan sighed, removing the steaming mug from the microwave. "Why am I not surprised?"

Stefan went to retrieve his backpack by the couch but paused at the door when the sound of a puttering engine caught his ear, despite Damon's rowdy game. He grinned as the most pleasant scent in the world filled his nostrils. Apparently, Damon smelled her too because he paused to quirk an eyebrow in the direction of the door.

"Elena." Stefan breathed, flinging the door open. The girl smiled knowingly at him as she climbed out of her car and trotted up the driveway. Stefan greeted her with a smile of his own and met her halfway. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips, staring adoringly into her eyes.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"Pretty good, we finally got those nasty little critters." she giggled and held his hands. "Yours?"

"Eh." he shrugged. "Same old, same old. Except I didn't feel quite as whole without you."

Her lips quirked into a smile. "Sorry…"

He kissed those lips. "Not your fault."

She beamed at him when he pulled away.

"Look what I brought." she chimed, thrusting a bag up from behind her back that Stefan didn't notice until then.

"What is it?" he asked, pretending to be oblivious even though he could all but taste the strong scent.

"Guess!"

"Hmm." he paused for dramatic effect. "Cinnamon buns?"

"You got it!" she laughed and gave him the bag. "For us to enjoy while you fill me on the story about how you got your injury." she said, glancing at his ankle.

Stefan took note of the sudden seriousness in her tone and nodded. "Ok."

He lead her into the house and straight into the kitchen, ignoring Damon completely.

"Where did you buy these?" he asked, setting the bag on the counter.

"A random bakery at the corner of the street." she shrugged. "Jeremy discovered it and he seems to really like them."

Stefan nodded, he wondered if they would appease to his taste buds too. Of course, food could never sustain him or arouse him like blood could but he tolerated the bland sensation nonetheless.

"So, tell me what happened." she requested, standing up straight and peering deeply into his eyes with concern. He sighed, leaning against the counter as he recalled the previous night. He opened his mouth and began to tell his story.

* * *

Several hours later, Stefan and Elena had moved to the table as they talked. Eventually, Damon had joined them because he secretly wanted to hear the story as well. Stefan had merely regarded him with slanted eyes while Elena sighed in exasperation and urged him to carry on with the story.

"Yea, so that's what happened." Stefan finished, poking at his cinnamon bun with a plastic fork.

"But...you're ok, right?" Elena inquired, not having touched her treat at all. He nodded.

Her hazel eyes frantically searched his face as if trying to make sure he was telling the truth. "Do you have any idea who they were? I mean, are they a threat? You know, the tomb vampires are-"

"No, they're not a threat." Stefan suddenly growled. "Just a bunch of punks who don't have anything better to do but fight over food."

"But you were double-teamed." she argued. "You can hardly call that a fight."

Damon watched them talk, remaining silent for once. He refused to allow any feelings of concern to surface for his little brother. Not now, at least. He kept them tightly sealed in.

"It's over with." Stefan replied calmly. "Let's just forget it ever happened."

They stared at one another for a while until Elena finally nodded reluctantly. Stefan smiled reassuringly at her and then broke a piece of the cinnamon bun off and fed it to her. She grinned and accepted it. As Damon watched them, he couldn't help but wonder why Stefan wanted to brush this incident off. Was it because he didn't want to discuss an issue that all but punched his ego in the gut and shredded his pride?

He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Stefan lovingly continued to fed Elena the rest of the cinnamon bun, all the while stealing bites for himself.

"Be right back." Elena called as she got up and went to the bathroom. Stefan watched her go with a small smile on his face but as soon as she was out of sight his smile dropped like lead. He was about to thread his hand through his hair when he realized that his fingers were still sticky. He looked around for a napkin but decided to lick them clean instead. As he did, Damon noticed that his mouth lingered over his thumb more than any other finger.

"Are you ok?" Damon asked before he could stop himself.

Stefan looked at him, a faint hint of surprise on his face.

"Yea, why?" he retorted suspiciously, the tip of his thumb still in his mouth. Damon eyed him with a strange look on his face.

"Because you look like you're going to swallow that thing." he remarked, tapping Stefan's wrist lightly. Stefan glared at him and plucked the digit from of his mouth, pressing his palm down on the table.

"Why does it matter to you?"

Damon watched him carefully. "Because that would be really gross to watch..."

Stefan's glare deepened as he clenched his fists on the table, the veins in his arms bulging slightly.

"I'm not talking about that."

"Neither am I." Damon admitted, the serious look on his face never wavering.

"Something is seriously wrong with you." he observed casually, sitting back slowly in his chair. "What is it?"

Stefan cocked an eyebrow at his brother's nonchalant attitude. "I told you." he said through gritted teeth. "_Nothing._"

Damon stared at him for a moment and then smirked, crossing his arms. "Whatever, you don't have to tell me now. I'll found out sooner or later."

Stefan raised an eyebrow in reply.

"The younger sibling can never hide for long from the older one." Damon explained. "Like, for instance...remember that time when we were younger, playing hide and seek. I was "it" and I found you in the-"

"Ok, I get it. Even though that's entirely irrelevant to what we're talking about."

"To you, maybe. Point is, I'm going to find out."

This time, Stefan actually growled. Damon growled back, though with less venom. Stefan was being unnecessarily defensive over the whole thing. As if, he had a secret to protect. But what could it be? Damon already knew about the whole "sucking his thumb" thing. What could be a bigger secret than that? He'd get to the bottom of it. He just knew he would.

"Again, why do you even care?" Stefan snarled.

Damon was actually stumped at that one, and from the cocky look on Stefan's face, he knew it. Damon glared at him.

"_I don't_, I just don't like it when people know stuff I don't…."

Yea, that was it.

Eventually, Elena meandered back into the kitche0n with a blank look on her face. A frown formed though when she felt the thick tension that hit her like a wave as she re-entered the room. She turned to see Stefan seething silently.

"Everything ok in here?" she asked, breaking the silence. Stefan looked at her and offered her a grim smile. Her frowned deepened. Something in Stefan's eyes told her that he wasn't too happy to see her as he let on.

"Well, um, I guess I'll be on my way."

Stefan rose quickly from his chair, a frown of his own forming on his face. "What? Why?"

"Jenna texted me." she sighed.

Realization dawned on his face. "How bad?"

"It's like 'Return of the Maggots'." she said sadly, using her fingers to do air quotes.

Stefan made a sympathetic sound and approached her, though he seemed a bit hesitant. "I could help..."

"Eh...I'd rather you rest some." she retorted, eyeing his ankle. "And stay off your ankle, it ain't gonna heal itself!"

Damon snickered. "That's what I said!"

Stefan glared at him, his eyes staring daggers into his brother. He turned back to Elena with a softer look on his face.

"Hm...alright."

Elena took the final steps to reach him and he enveloped her into a quick embrace. She gripped the back of his shirt tightly as she breathed in his scent and he breathed in hers.

"Be more careful when you're hunting..." she whispered, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

He sighed into her hair and rubbed her back comfortingly. "I will." he kissed her forehead. "I promise."

They stayed that way for a while until Elena attempted to pull away, but Stefan only held her tighter. She frowned in confusion, feeling him breathe heavily on her neck.

"S-stefan?" she stammered, trying to look into his face. "Stefan, what are you doing?"

He jumped, startled, and let her go. "Oh, uhm." he staggered back, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"S-Sorry, I uh...was just trying to..."

"What?" she inquired, genuine confusion showing on her face. He mumbled something incoherent.

She strained her ears to hear him. "Huh?"

"Nothing, um." he looked away. "Don't you have some maggots to kill...?"

"Yeah..." she said, eyeing him up and down, "I guess I'll take my leave then." she offered him a final smile as she headed towards the door, "See you tomorrow? At school?"

"Of course."

She smiled wider and walked out of the door. Stefan sighed as he heard her start up the engine and drive away.

"What was that all about?" Damon drawled, having been watching the exchange with interest. Stefan didn't reply. Instead, he sped quickly from the room without a second to spare. Damon stared after him and sighed.

Why did little _sisters_ have to be so damn complicated?

* * *

Damon watched the pictures on the television flicker with dull eyes as he jabbed the remote control constantly, wondering why nothing good was on. He was just going to settle on the weather channel when he heard distant sounds of sniffling and whimpering? The older vampire raised an eyebrow, turning the volume down and listening intently to the sound. When the sounds came closer, he looked to the stairs and saw Stefan trot down, looking completely miserable.

"Uh?" he questioned, staring at his younger brother. "What's wrong with you -,"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because suddenly a loud explosion came from the kitchen. He cursed loudly, jumping up from the couch and zooming into the kitchen. The microwave had caught fire and exploded, leaving the kitchen coated in ash and tiny flames. He cursed again, assessing the damage. The microwave was completely gone and so was the mug of blood he was warming up. He paused when he saw the wet aluminum that had been wrapped around Elena's cinnamon buns on the counter. The stuff had probably gotten stuck to the bottom of his mug when he was filling it with blood. Apparently, aluminum was highly flammable.

He groaned and turned on his heel to walk out. Let Stefan clean up the mess...

As he walked back into the living room, he found said brother sitting on the couch in fetal position. He was hugging his legs to his chest with his head resting on his knees. Damon just stood there, stunned for a moment before clearing his throat and waiting for a response. When none came, he began to slowly approach him.

"Well, this is new..."

When Damon kept coming, Stefan emitted a deep growl in warning. Damon frowned at him and growled back.

"The fuck is your problem?"

No answer.

Damon sighed in exasperation, talk about drama queen! He sat next to Stefan and ignored his growls of warning.

"What is wrong with you now?" he repeated, raising both eyebrows.

"Why do you care?" Stefan snarled, his voice muffled because of his head being in his knees.

"I don't, it's just that you've been a complete jackass all week, when that's my job."

"I haven't been a jackass, ok? It's just…"

"What?"

"Nothing,"

"You're just as bad at lying as you are at hiding the fact that you still suck your thumb…"

Stefan finally lifted his head to glare heatedly at him.

"Will you just _drop_ that?!"

"Why did you come down here?" Damon asked suddenly, now that he had his brother's attention.

Stefan looked at him weird, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Because I can…"

Damon shook his head. "You came down here because something up there upset you." He noticed that Stefan's thumb was indeed wet.

"And your solution to being upset is sucking your thumb." He leaned forward. "You're having nightmares again aren't you?"

Stefan grimaced. Damon was always smart when it came to his little brother and Stefan hated it. He hated how Damon could read him like a book. He hated that Damon knew most of his secrets. Most of all, he hated how it felt like Damon cared…when he didn't.

Stefan didn't answer, and he didn't need to, his silence was confirmation enough.

"It's Katherine, isn't it?" Damon felt his anger rising just at the thought of her. "That's why you were acting all weird with Elena you wanted to make sure she was Elena and not Katherine."

Stefan just sat there miserably while Damon laid his story out before him like a finished puzzle.

"Wow, those must have been some fucked up nightmares if they caused you to be _this_ paranoid."

Damon looked at him and Stefan refused to meet his eyes. All of a sudden, he felt like running. Fleeing this tense atmosphere and running as fast as his vampire speed could take him, feeling his worries sail away with the wind. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was his still injured ankle.

Finally, Stefan decided on just getting rid of the real problem-Damon. "Look, I'm fine. Just drop the act."

"What act?"

"The act that you care,"

"I never said I care."

"You didn't have to, you won't leave me the fuck alone, so I'm guessing you care!"

Damon seemed a little surprised at the outburst but he didn't let it show. "C'mon stupid get a grip. I sealed away my emotions and they're not coming out anytime soon. Therefore, it's impossible for me to 'care'."

Stefan nodded slightly, seeing the logic in that.

"Like I said, being a jackass is my job." Damon smirked when Stefan finally met his gaze. It was time for him to ask:

"What was the nightmare about?"

Horror suddenly flashed in Stefan's eyes at just the mention of that dream.

"Um…" his voice wavered and Damon could tell that his emotions were still fragile.

"That bad?"

Stefan's watery eyes told him everything and he couldn't help but sigh. Right then he didn't see the strong, able vampire he's known for so long. He saw his brother, specifically his little brother who didn't need anything right now but comfort. Somehow, even his hardcore persona understood that. Somehow… he found it in himself to let a tiny amount of that emotion slip.

"C'mere."

Stefan looked up and saw his brother opening his arms invitingly. He didn't need to be told twice what to do next. The younger vampire all but sprung on his brother who held him tightly and let him sob himself out.

Later that night as Stefan lay against Damon, sleeping contently and nightmare free, Damon decided that he couldn't cure the nightmares, but he could do one thing, and that was…

Care.

* * *

I hope you all liked it! Especially you boycrazy, you deserve it for waiting so long!

Remember to review lovely readers!


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